Apr 23, 2018; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Carmelo Anthony (7) sits in the bench area during the first half of game four of the first round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs against the Utah Jazz at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-Imagn Images / Russ Isabella-Imagn Images
Carmelo Anthony is one of the best scorers the NBA has ever seen. His first ballot Hall of Fame selection shouldn’t come as a surprise as the 19 year veteran who amassed 1,260 NBA games is more than worthy of the honor.
The basketball Hall of Fame is an all encompassing hallow hall unlike in other sports, your entire basketball life makes up your resume. Anthony’s is gaudy. Winning a National Championship with the Syracuse Orange in 2003 before being selected No. 3 overall in that summer’s draft to the Denver Nuggets.
Anthony posted 10 All-Star selections, was a member of six All-NBA squads, the scoring champion in 2012-13 and apart of the NBA’s 75th anniversay team as one of the league’s top 75 players of all time. The scorer simply referred to a Melo, compiled a trio of Gold Medals in Olympic play as well.
In his NBA career, he turned in a total of 28,289 points across those 19 seasons which featured a stint with six NBA teams. That includes 78 games played for the Oklahoma City Thunder back in 2017-18.
Anthony represents something bigger than his on court production in Bricktown. He was part of an exhilarating summer that stabilized a franchise.
After Kevin Durant ditched the Thunder for the Bay Area, inking a pact with the Golden State Warriors to form one of the most talent rich teams in league history, the Thunder were left for dead by many.
Russell Westbrook’s MVP season to drag a make-shift squad to the NBA playoffs was fun, but no one knew how Sam Presti would retool a roster around the now triple-double machine. In the 2017 offseason, Presti started with a bang by trading for disgruntled Pacers star Paul George,
Just before Media Day, the Thunder got another injection of new life as Anthony demanded a trade out of New York and the Hall of Fame veteran, put Oklahoma City of all places on an approved list of destinations.
The day Anthony landed in Bricktown, before a game was played, the trade was worth it. The symbolization of a star player wanting to be on the prairie was enough to stablize a franchise and show to the NBA world and its own fanbase things would be okay in life after Durant.
While that team coined as the OK3 eventually flamed out in Utah and came to a disappointing and somewhat messy ending, it still is an important part of Thunder history.
Now, Oklahoma City sits on the other side of a rebuild with a 63-12 record and on the cusp of a dynastic run. In some ways, it can be tied back to the now Hall of Fame scorer.
